The present invention relates to an air conveyor for conveying plastic bottles, and more particularly to an air conveyor which includes a curved transitional section for connecting an upstream air conveyor section to a downstream air conveyor section.
Air conveyors are useful for the rapid transport of plastic bottles between work stations as, for example, between a storage station and a bottle-filling station. Typically, the air conveyor includes a pair of elongated flanges spaced to define an elongated slot between them, and a series of air ducts or nozzles on opposite sides of the slot. The plastic bottles are formed with annular neck rings adjacent the tops of their necks. With the bottle necks extending through the slot and the neck rings overlying the spaced flanges, the bottles are suspended from the flanges and hang below the slot. Pressurized air from the air nozzles is directed in streams toward the bottles. The bottles move through the slot in a downstream direction because of the force of the air streams against the bottles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,521, issued Aug. 1, 1995, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses and claims such an air conveyor. The disclosure of the '521 patent is incorporated herein by reference. Although the invention disclosed in the '521 patent was a significant improvement over the prior art, a need remains for an efficient means for smoothly connecting upstream and downstream air conveyor sections that are not collinear.